from the grey mess

What I am reading

2011-12-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Very often I am asked "Mike what are you reading" so here is a list of things I have read recently. No they are not all "Christian books" - I like to read widely

1. Ancient Rome: The rise and fall of an empire - Simon Baker
2. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
3. Confession: A novel - John Grisham
4. Dangerous Wonder - Mike Yaconelli
5. Erasing Hell - Francis Chan
6. Fields of Gold - Andy Stanley
7. Getting Naked - A business Fable - Patrick Lencioni
8. Humilitas - John Dickson
9. Hybrid - Braday O Grady
10. A long way gone - Memoris of a boy soldier - Ishmael Beah
11. Not a Fan - Kyle Idleman
12. Off Balance -Matthew Kelly
13. Radical - David Platt
14. The Rhythem of Life - Mattehew Kelly
15. Untitled: Thoughts on the Creavtive Process - Blain Hogan
16. Wonder: From Emotion to Spiritualty - Robert Fuller
17. Recapturing Wonder - Ravi Zacahrias
18. 11/22/63 - Stephan King
19. Alter of Eden - James Rollins
20. Your Church in Rhythm - Bruce Miller
21. Your Life in Rhythm - Bruce Miller
22. The Contrarians Guild to Leadership - Steven Sample
23. Deliberate Simplicity -Dave Browning
24. Glittering Images -Susan Howatch
24. The Innocent - Vince Zandri
25. Love Wins - Rob Bell
26. The Nasty Bits - Anthony Bordain
27. No Good Deed - Anthony McDonald
28. True North - Bill George
29. The Real Mary - Scot McNight
30. The Orthodox Way - Callisto Ware
31. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality - Pete Scazzaro

Three types

2011-09-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

There is an old saying that predicts there are three kind of people in every organization:
1. risk-takers - reach out to new and innovative ideas;
2. care-takers - status is quo;
3. under-takers - they bury everything, especially every new idea

Living in Today

2011-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present" - Oogway, Kung Fu Panda

I am surrounded by circumstance that remind me to fully live in today. To be thankful in today and the blessings that come with today. I see lots of pain. In my work I am surround by people in pain and I try my best to walk with them.

I have been following the journey of a little girl named Kate (you can see her story here) . Kate has brain cancer. I do not know her, I have never met her and she lives in a different state, but through a series of circumstances I was made a aware of her and her family. I pray for them ever week.

For the last 5 months or so I have been volunteering at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. I am confronted each week with children and families going through the unthinkable.

So today I live fully. Things are good for me today. Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. So today I choose to live to the fullest....today

What it takes to write a "sermon"

2011-06-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people ask me what I do all week. I have heard the comments..."It must be nice to only work on the weekend"..."It must be nice to sit around and read the Bible all day”. If you only knew….

One of my most important duties is to write a sermon (some call it "the message" or "the talk") whatever you want to call it here is the process that I go through each week.

1. Prayer - I need to hear from God.
2. Research - Lots of reading of scripture, tons of reading in both topical and theological texts.
3. Regurgitation - I sift through the research and use the valuable information.
4. Reflection – Time to think, and talk with others. I bring my outline to our Worship Design Team each week and we talk though the material.
5. Writing – The message needs to be written in a logical flow, application and next steps need to be added along with timely relevant stories.
6. Rehearsal – I practice the message out loud at least one time (sometimes two).
7. Delivery – We curtly have 3 weekend gatherings (4 beginning in the fall) so the message is delivered 3-4 times in a row.

8. Nap – By Sunday afternoon I am trashed and it is time for a nap

What is "deep preaching"?

2011-06-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Where Have I Been?

2011-06-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? I know...it has been over a month since I last posted. I have no excuse. I will probably never become a famous blogger. Here is what has contributed to my absence. I spent a couple of weeks in India, good times, great ministry. Got back from India and had surgery (don't ask), that put me out for a couple of weeks. Things have been super busy at Northbrook as we gear up for a great fall. We are adding a 4th service to free up some space, along with a couple of other exciting things coming down the line. I have been spending time at Children's Hospital as volunteer, that has given me perspective on life and I really enjoy helping there. Spending time with my family has become a HUGE priority for me so lots of my time is going there right now.

So now you have it. I plan to be online more...lets see what happens.

Video From India trip 2011

2011-04-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

New Geek Tool

2011-03-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for things to make my life more efficient. I like to read...a lot. I subscribe to a lot of e newsletters and read a lot of blogs. Sometimes my in box gets real full because I don't have time to read the moment a something gets posted. This makes my email really cluttered. I found a great FREE tool to take care of this problem, it is called instapaper. This free tool lets you save and archive internet articles with one simple click to your private account. Life just got a little easier

My Values

2011-03-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

We hear a lot about establishing values, especially in organizations. It seems to be trendy to talk about organizational culture and values. I think these are incredibly important, if you actually live them. But what about personal values? I think it is even more important to have personal values because they are the framework for how you live your life. Over the last few years I have been developing a set of personal values. Here they are

My Values

1. A life giving relationship with Christ
2. My family matters most
3. Speak life always
4. Demonstrate the love of Christ at all times, even when people don’t expect it or deserve it
5. Live a life of honesty and transparency
6. My main calling is to be a strong, creative and transparent communicator of the Gospel
7. Life is short, have fun
8. Spend twice as much time listening as you do talking

Now the hard part is actually living them consistently. What do you value?

Words, Worship and Prayer: Great post from Glenn Packiam

2011-03-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

Just read this post by Gelnn Packiam of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Great perspective. Here is the link to his blog or just read the text below.

Do the Words We Use in Worship and Prayer Really Matter?
from Glenn Packiam's blog by Glenn Packiam

[I have discovered from my recent tweets about the language of our worship and prayer that while many agree, several are confused. Some wonder why this fascination with the old and the traditional. Others think I'm simply an unlikely champion of the "good ole hymns." In an attempt to provoke more discussions amongst yourselves-- worship leaders, worship teams, songwriters, etc-- I have formulated the three most frequent objections I've heard...and I've attempted a response. If my response is severe, it's because I believe the issue is.]

"Worship songs" are not just "expressions of our hearts to God", they shape what we believe about God. In the first 1600 years or so, few dared to write "their own songs" for congregational worship. The first prayers and songs of the Church were Psalms (prayers they learned as Jewish children) reframed around Christ. By the end of the 1st century we see a few creedal formulas surface, many of which are quoted in Paul's letters. Later, when more songs and liturgies were written, they were carefully worded by theologians like John Chrysostom in the 4th century (whose liturgy the Orthodox Church still sings!) and much later, Luther in the 16th century. For many centuries after the Reformation, songs written for public worship had to have words taken directly from Scripture. Today, we are loose about it. We sit down-- and I say "we" because I have been guilty of this-- and try to write a song based on what's in our hearts, what we want to say, what my Church wants to sing...all of which may be OK if they are subservient to the larger question, "What is true about God?" Still, some insist...

1. "It's the Heart that Counts."
Tell that to Nadab and Abihu-- you know, the guys who offered a "strange fire" and got struck down in Numbers 3. Or Uzzah, the guy who struck dead for touching the Ark that was sliding off a cart it should never have been on because David did not "seek the Lord about the prescribed manner." Where did we arrive at the notion that God does not care about the way that we worship? Or that all that matters is our heart? What only adds to the muddle is the confused notion about what the "heart" is. We have been shaped by the Romantic Era so that when we hear "heart" we think "intention" or "desire." But in the Scripture the "heart" is the seat of the will. It is where action comes from.

But here's the real question: Are you sure that your words and your heart are two separate things? Can you sing "bad" words but have a "good" heart? Jesus seemed quite clear that our words always betray what's in our hearts. Perhaps our words in worship reveal what we really believe about God in our hearts. This is point of the whole Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi thing. It's the conviction that the way we worship is the way we believe is the way we live. It's not just a clever Latin phrase from a long time ago. Is it an accident that along with the rise of "popular worship songs" devoid of the words and content of the Creeds and Confessions of the Church has come the rise of a new religion, Moralistic Therepeutic Deism, that many think is "Christianity"? Have our words of prayer and worship become so generic that most of what we sing can be just as easily sung to Simba the Lion King or, better yet, Oprah's 'God'?

The Bible also tells us that our heart is desperately wicked. Scripture and the historic creeds and confessions of the Church (that were either based on Scripture or were themselves the basis for selecting the Canon of Scripture) are like iron stakes, driven into the ground on either side of a young tree. Without them, our worship grows crooked.

2. "What We Really Need is the Spirit to Show Up."
Immediately I want to ask, "Which Spirit?" and "How will you know it's Him?" What this statement may reveal is a fixation on an experience. But Christians don't gather together so they can "experience God" as if it's a sanctified frat party. We gather to pay attention to God-- His presence in the Sacraments, His voice in the Scriptures, His Spirit in His people-- and to pay attention to one another-- our companions on the way of the cross. To say it's all about God "moving" in a service is to leave that up to a subjective experience of whether He "moved" or not. If we aren't careful we may think that as long as we danced/cried/shouted/were moved/etc then it doesn't matter if what was said or sung was actually about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is letting Experience define Truth instead of letting Truth define Experience. It's a bizarre non sequitur: "I feel it, therefore it is true." No one would actually say this, but our actions may indicate that we are more concerned with "what the experience of God is like" than "who the God of the experience is." Pardon me for being crude, but that's a bit like saying, "As long as the sex is good, I don't care whom it's with." And, indeed, that seems to be the motto of our culture. But if we are to be Christ's Bride and not Bablyon's Whore, we can't qualify a worship service filled with sloppy theology by how good it felt. Our worship must begin with the question, "What is true about God?" not "What do I want/need/expect to feel?"

Oh, and by the way, every time the People of God gather in Christ's name, the Spirit of God is there. You (plural!) are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. He is present when we gather. The discipline of gathering weekly to worship is one of learning to pay attention to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not to have a group sensation.

3. "We Need to be Free to Express Ourselves in Our Own Way."
Resisting the urge to refer again to the aforementioned Nadab and Abihu, I will say, instead, that you are free to do lots of things. You are free to worship a false god if you'd like. You are free, as Adam and Eve were, to try to be god-like instead of reflectors of the Image of God.

"Freedom" is another convoluted word, muddied by the Romantic Era and the American Revolution. "Freedom" in the American sense is quite different from "Freedom in Christ." Jesus didn't die to give us free speech; He died to set us free from the law of sin and death at work in us. Our culture has idolized autonomy and called it "freedom." We like innovation and not imitation because innovation is an expression of independence, and imitation is proof of dependence. But Biblical worship has nothing to do with the arrogant and the independent. If you insist on making this about "expressing yourself", you will find yourself more at home with the Golden Calf than with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After all, the Golden Calf was an image Israel was familiar with, an "expression of worship" they knew and that made sense to them. You cannot fashion YHWH in your image; you are fashioned in His image, which is why there is a "prescribed way" to worship Him. It takes humility to say, "I don't really know how to worship." It takes humility to ask, as the disciples did, "Lord, teach us how to pray." And then to listen to the words of the Lord's Prayer and let those words shape the language of your prayer. Can we pray our own prayers and write our songs from our heart? Of course. But we would do well to let our language first be shaped by Psalms, Scripture, and the historic Creeds and confessions of the Church.

As children, we learned to speak by being spoken to. Our mother or father says, "Ball" and we watch their mouth and try to say it back to them. Then we say it with them. Soon we say it on our own. Then we speak on our own. But not with "our own words." That would be gibberish. We speak the words spoken to us. So with worship and prayer: Speak, sing, pray, the Word that has been spoken to you. Or as Paul wrote, "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts" (Col. 3:16).

[I'm sure I'll write a follow-up post with some recommendations of books on Psalm-praying, or sources of the ancient creeds and confessions. But for now, the diligent can find them. Part of the education is in the search, right? :)]

India

2011-02-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

Just returned last night from a 10 day trip to India. We spend the week with Hindustan Bible Institute, looking at the possibility of partnering with their work in Siliguri, West Bengal, India. If you are not familiar with HBI you can find out more HERE. The city that we spent our time in has many challenges. Child labor, terrible poverty and prostitution (Siliguri has 2,000 registered prostitutes in the red light district and another 3,000 that are not registered because they are under age). The churches have challenges because they do not have access to quality training and the leadership of the local churches is struggling. I along with Paul S. provided leadership training for the pastors while Julie K. and Michelle K. did training for the women. People are so hungry for training that some came from as far as Nepal and Bhutan.

The religious culture is Islamic and Hindu, which was made very real to me as every night I could not sleep because the Hindu's were having a some type of celebration in which they sang and screeched...all night long. Hinduism is obvious by the sheer amount of cows...everywhere. In the middle of the street, in the market place...everywhere. The sad truth is the cows are treated better and more humane than the people.

We spent one day walking through the slums and the rock quarry where hundreds of children and women work in grueling conditions breaking stones. We also drove by the red light district in which 5,000 women and girls are forced to perform there services on as many as 15 customers a day. I have traveled a lot, and seen many things but the poverty here was more overwhelming that I have ever experienced.

We spent one day in Nepal, just because. It was a one hour drive and we thought it would be worth the cultural experience.

On the way home we spent one day in Delhi. While waking down the street a little beggar no more than 5 years old grabbed onto my leg and would not let go. It broke my heart to pry him off but I did not know if I was being target and set up so I did what I had to do.

I know that we cannot solve all the problems of this country or city, but we asking the question "what is the one thing we CAN do". How can we share the love of Christ with the people of this city and do works of compassion in Jesus name?

Outlive Your Life: Rewind Week 1

2011-02-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

Weekend Rewind: Parent Trap Part 3 "It takes a village"

2011-01-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

Parent Trap week 2 Recap

2011-01-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Message Rewind: Parent Trap week 1

2011-01-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

body scans

2010-12-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

I was at the airport today. Going through the security line is always stressful, especially with 2 little kids. Now, I don't travel as much as some, but I do get around so I have been through that line a lot. Today some lady got mad because they wanted her to go through the body scan machine. She refused, made a little scene and opted for the pat down. From time to time people ask me, usually jokingly, what I think about body scans and pat downs at the airport. I know some people think it infringes on their rights but here is my take. If it keeps me from getting blown up, then pat and scan away.

Music

2010-12-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

I really don't get into "reality shows" like American Idol and so you think you can dance, BUT the show The Sing off is well...AMAZING. These are some of the most talented people I have ever seen - no instrument, just voices. Here are my favorites

Is this what we have become?

2010-12-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

I have been watching some "Black Friday" video on youtube. Stories of mad rush and trampling to save $100.00 on a TV? Come on! Is this what we have become as a society?

Dry Skin and Mexican food

2010-11-28T11:49:00.001-08:00

I just got back from a week long trip to visit family in Colorado. It was a great time. I got to eat at all my favorite places, Carne Asada from 3 Margaritas, Vietnamese egg rolls and beef and mushrooms at An Nam and Carna Asada Nachos from Albertacos. Of course the best part was my mother in laws pork and green chili and enchiladas.

I finished a book I was reading called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero and started a second book called A whole new mind by Daniel Pink. If you have not read Pinks book put it on your reading list immediately.

I spent some time with great friends and visited the church I used to Pastor, Restoration Church. If you live in the Colorado Springs area you need to check out this church, some cool things are happening there.

People ask me if I ever miss Colorado. The answer is yes...and no. I miss the mountains and snowboarding. I miss my family and friends but that's about it. I don't miss how dry it is there, my skin felt like it was cracking the whole time. I also don't miss how brown Colorado Springs is most of the year. I prefer the lush green of the Midwest. But what is more important is walking in destiny and purpose. I really believe that I was destined to come to Wisconsin at this time. I don't mean that in an arrogant way, I just feel like it is part of Gods plan for my life. I do believe in God ordained destiny and I also believe we can walk in it or reject it (more on that later, this is not a theological post). Knowing that I love the memories that I have from the past, I am excited about the future but I am trying very hard to live in the present. As Master Uguay said from Kung Fu Panda, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery; but today is a gift! That is why it is called the present As CS Lewis said in the book, The Great Divorce, "This moment contains all moments".

My Mission

2010-11-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

For years I have been trying to define my life mission, in the form of a life mission statement. I have been working on and off with this idea for about 5 years. I think I have a good ruff draft. This concise statement will help drive how I do life. Here it is:

To live life fully (Jn 10:10 “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly)

Take one day at a time (PHP 4:6 “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”)

To Love God with all my heart soul and mind (LK 10:27 "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind') and care genuinely for those around me (LK 10:27 “Love your neighbor as yourself”)

To be authentic and transparent

Nicaragua

2010-11-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a trip to Managua, Nicaragua. I was invited to participate on a trip sponsored by Compassion International and the Willow Creek Association. I had the opportunity to spend time with some great pastors, Mark from compassion and the great folks at the WCA. The first day we toured the operations of Compassion International Nicaragua and I was blown away. If you are looking for an organization to partner with Compassion should be high on your list. The second day we spent time in the homes of some kids that were part of compassion program. I have been to Latin America many times but it is so easy to forget the poverty that so many people live in. As I stood next to the tin shack with the dirt floor that was smaller than my office and housed a family of 6 I was again reminded of Gods heart for the poor. I don't come home from these trips feeling guilty about what I have. I am blessed and I thank God for it. What makes me "feel guilty" is my response to the rest of the world. I don't think my "wealth" is a bad thing, what is bad is how often I fail to share with those who need my love and resources. In the next few months I will be traveling with some folks from my church to Asia as we look at an opportunity to partner with what God is doing in that part of the world. My hope is that God will allow all of us who follow him to have our heart broken for the poor.

Ragamuffin Grace

2010-10-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

I took a short personal retreat today. During that time of silence, solitude and prayer I read a book called "The Ragamuffin Gospel". The theme "embracing the unconditional love of God" is Brennan Mannings opus on grace. Grace is something that we have a hard time understanding in the Christian community. Manning suggests that we accept grace in theory but deny it in practice. As I read this book I realized I have a very distorted view of grace. I keep trying to earn Gods grace when he freely gives it. Its like the song "if grace is an ocean were all sinking". I want to sink in Gods grace everyday. My prayer this week is found at the end of Chapter 7:

"Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before you and try to bribe you with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask you to forgive us. Give us grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate your mercy no matter what we may do. Dear Jesus, help us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesty in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the gospel or grace, and to delight in your love. Amen.

Stop it

2010-10-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

I like to read blogs, I follow a bunch. One thing really bothers me. In the faith community we use blogs to "bash" each other. More and more blogs are written by followers of Christ who spend way to much time tearing someone else down. I know, I know there are some people out there doing "naughty" things in the name of Christ. Most of the time however we tear down people we simply don't agree with or whose theological position is different than ours. We get into these cat fights that hurts the Christian community and the name of Christ and they we wounder why we don't reach more people. Lets stop it and write things that are life giving not toxic.

Dad Life

2010-09-28T10:15:00.001-07:00

What shapes us as "church"?

2010-09-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

I was reflecting this morning on how the local church in the United States has been shaped. As I consider this some themes have emerged, we tend to be driven by:

1. Individualism
2. Consumerism
3. Entitlement

Please understand, I love "Church" and I LOVE my Church (northbrook church) My hope and pray is that we will be shaped more by our love for God and each other more than anything. I suppose what got me thinking about this topic was a new website coming out, it is called churchshopper. It is kind of like and eharmony for church goers. I am not making a judgment call, it could be a good idea or a very bad one the simply fuels the above themes. As I examine my own faith I suppose individualism, consumerism and entitlement affect my own faith. I do love to immerse myself in culture and we do a lot of things at our church that would be deemed "culturally relevant" but I hope I am driven by more than that.

darkness

2010-08-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had "one of those days?" We all have. Today is one of those days for me. It started out great, went really well most of the day and then tanked at the end. I found myself in a funk. I call it "darkness". Sometimes the darkness is explainable, an event leads to it. Sometimes it is unexplainable. I have learned that darkness is part of life. It is important to recognize it, understand its symptoms and allow God to work through dark times. So I embrace the darkness and let God do his work in me. Tomorrow I will probably be fine, that's usually how it goes but even if tomorrow is dark I serve one who conquered all darkness.

What if it's not easy

2010-08-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend at Northbrook I will be giving a message entitled "What if it's not easy?". Let's be honest life is not easy. If we look to our faith we find at its core a cross. R. Somerset ward said it best:

“When all around the air is full of vague rumors of newfound faith which is free of effort and tolerant of everything save toil and pain, it is time to speak out boldly and say that true Christianity is the most costly possession in the world, that still knows but one road, which leads over Calvary, and still has but one symbol, which is the cross”

A center of possiblitity

2010-08-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

"Once I begin surrendering my body to be transformed, I become a living and breathing center of possibility"

- Gary Thomas, "The Beautiful Fight"

Christ or Drivel? (This weekend at Northbrook)

2010-07-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

We are given hands and feet to do something, the Bible calls this something “works”, which mean our actions, how we live our lives. Our works or our actions are draped with our persona, our aura, our being – those things that make up who we are and follow us everywhere. So when you walk into a room what do you bring with you...Christ or drivel?

See you this weekend at Northbrook.

Weapons of Choice

2010-07-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

This month collide magazine offered the theme "weapons of choice". The article asked some folks in the creative field what their productivity weapons of choice are. After reading this article I was inspired to create my own list of productivity tools I like and use almost everyday.

1. Mac book pro (enough said)

2. iPhone

3. Neat Desk - This tool allows me to scan all my print materials and cut and past from the web and clip electronic articles. The software provide then categorizes my material in 3 categories, receipts, documents and contacts.

4. Curio - creative space software that has endless potential

5. XMind - Mind mapping software, lets me organize my ideas

6. MacJournal - Journal software

7. Things - best to do list and task manager software ever

8. Evernote - Great note taking softwear

9. High rise - people and contact manager

10. Basecamp - project management

Bones

2010-07-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

5 years ago I was diagnosed with a condition called "Osteopenia". If you are not familiar with the disease it is low bone density and leads to osteoporosis. This stumped my doctors because this condition does not emerge in adults until the age of 50. So for 5 years I have been exposed to bone density tests, have given hundreds of vials of blood (OK it just feels that way.), and some worry along the way. 2 days ago I had an appointment with a specialist. He conducted his own tests and his diagnosis...I was misdiagnosed 5 years ago! That came as a shock. I have been loaded on Vitamin D, been stuck with needles and scanned, all for nothing. I do feel a sense of relief but a little frustrated because I spent 5 years worrying, yes I know Jesus says something about that. So now people are asking me, what is God teaching you in all this? It feels like a smug questions. Yes I suppose Jesus is teaching me something but it has only been 2 days, I need some time to process the last five years.

Quiet Please

2010-06-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in my house and it is really quiet. My wife and kids went to see her dad this week, its been quiet all week. I love my kids. The truth is they are loud. From the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed, noise. I love it, most of the time. Until this week I had forgotten what quiet sounded like. I am always surrounded by noise. What I did not realize until this week was how tired my soul was from all the noise. I now realize that in order to stay "well" I must schedule silence. I know the thought of scheduling silence sounds weird but if I don't it will not happen. So here I go, at least one hour of silence a week, I will see what happens.

Did Peter & Paul Preach the Modern Evangelical Gospel? (from glenn packiam)

2010-06-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a great post from Glenn Packiam at new life church in colorado springs

Did Peter & Paul Preach the Modern Evangelical Gospel?

Peter&Paul_Ding6x8I recently decided to examine the sermons found in the Book of Acts and compare them with how we "preach the Gospel" today.

What they "leave out" and what they include is an interesting study indeed. For example, it is intextricably connected to the Jewish narrative. It isn't at all self-focused and doesn't revolve around a "personal relationship with God" (nothing like this phrase is used and though they believed the idea they didn't include it in the individualistic way that we do). Instead, they announced Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah of Israel (that was a loaded statement for the 1st-century Jews!) and the world's true Lord (that was a loaded statement to those in the Roman Empire, where Caesar declared himself as Lord!).

I examined how Peter (Acts 2, 3, 4, 5, 10), Paul (Acts 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24, 26), and even Stephen (Acts 7) preached the Gospel. Below is my initial synopsis.

THE GOSPEL OF MODERN EVANGELICALISM (As seen in Four Spiritual Laws, etc):
1. God made humans to be in relationship with Him.

2. Humans sinned and their sin separated them from God.

3. Jesus died on the cross for our sin and rose again.

4. Whoever believes in Jesus will go to heaven when they die.

THE GOSPEL OF THE 1ST CHURCH (As preached by Peter, Paul, and others in Acts):
1. God made a good world (cosmos) and put humans in charge.

2. Humans rebelled against God and allowed Evil to infect the world (cosmos).

3. God launched His master plan to rescue and redeem the world (cosmos) through Abraham and his family.

4. Jesus, the seed of Abraham and the Son of God, brought that plan to completion by defeating Evil and atoning for human sin by dying on the cross. This victory was achieved because God raised Jesus from the dead. God raising Jesus from the dead was a sign that He was fulfilling His promise at last. (See Paul's sermon in Acts 26)

5. Whoever believes in Him and surrenders to Him as the world’s true Lord and Messiah will become the new People of God. They will experience bodily resurrection and participate in the restoration of all things in the age to come, where Jesus the Messiah renews this world (cosmos) and joins it forever with heaven.

[The first three points are embedded in every reference to Abraham, Israel, Moses and Joseph found in Peter's, Paul's and Stephen's sermons. That was the Jewish narrative, the narrative they saw Jesus as the culmination and completion of.]

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
The Modern Evangelical Gospel is not theologically inaccurate; it’s Biblically anemic.
- It has difficulty knowing what to make of Israel and the Old Testament. (Is that the reason we routinely hand out New Testaments?)
- It raises questions like, "Was God wasting time for a couple thousand years?" and "Was the law simply to frustrate people?"

The Modern Evangelical Gospel has an inadequate explanation for Evil
- It is difficult to make sense of why “bad things happen” or why God isn’t doing anything about it.
- It doesn't highlight that God has confronted Evil and has acted decisively to defeat it. Though Evil's defeat will culminate when Christ returns and we receive resurrected bodies, it has already begun because Jesus is resurrected.

The Modern Evangelical Gospel can lead to a spiritualized view of the after-life.
- It makes us want to escape this earth and get out of here.
- It frames everything around whether we will get into heaven or not.
- It can inadvertently promote a “detached spirituality” on earth, i.e.: only value “spiritual activities” like prayer, worship, Bible reading, “soul-winning”, etc and not the ordinary common joys like meals, loving relationships, or even work.
- It doesn't emphasize that because Jesus is fully God and fully Man, and because Revelation's picture of the "end game" is Heaven and Earth joined together at last, Christian spirituality is Incarnational: it has a place for the physical and the material.

The Modern Evangelical Gospel doesn’t provide a framework for why we should care for creation or care about injustice.
- It makes it difficult to know why we should care for creation since God’s going to throw it all away someday.
- It doesn't provide any motivation for any social reform is worth it because the whole world is going down the toilet.

The Modern Evangelical Gospel has difficulty explaining why character really matters.
- If we’re going to get into heaven by grace, then why does “being good” matter?
- It doesn't make us think about what it means to be God’s image-bearers who will reign with Christ in God's new heaven and new earth, both of which require “Christian character”.

Enjoy the ride

2010-06-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

I heard someone speak about the difference between "destination theology" and "journey theology". Destination theology speaks of getting somewhere. Everything that we do is based on the arrival of some place. For those of us that follow Christ it destination theology would say it is all about getting to heaven. All our of focus is getting "there" and we just tolerate life "here" until that day. Journey theology is a little different. Sure the destination is the same, some day we will spend eternity with God, though we even get that mixed up a little (see my message on "resurrection of the body"). What if God wants us to embrace the journey as much as the destination. A couple of years ago I took a six week sabbatical. We drove from Colorado to Florida. At first I was not really happy with a 30hr road trip with a 4 year old. Honestly the trip was, in some ways just as good as getting there. We stopped a really nice hotel in Kansas (yes , the have them in Kansas) went swimming and ate junk food. Spent a day hanging out in Tennessee, which now my favorite of all the southern states I have been to. Getting to Florida was great, but so was the ride there, the journey. If we think of Moses and the Israelites. The journey was hard on them but God did an amazing work as they journeyed through the desert. Jesus said I have come that you might have life and have it fully". I think He wants us to enjoy life now. I am trying to enjoy this life, this journey God has given me. Oh, I have my days, but God is doing some refining and life changing things on my journey and I would not trade them for anything.

Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | Video on TED.com

2010-05-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others | Video on TED.com

Wide Awake

2010-05-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church". One of comments that Wright makes is "how can we learn to live as wide awake people?" That question caused me to take some internal inventory. Do I walk through life wide awake taking advantage of every moment set before me, or, do I spend part of my life anesthetized and numb? I have identified some practices that make me feel more alive, that cause me to live life wide awake. They are:

1. Confession. Yes, confession. I confess my sins out loud to other people, granted they are very safe and trusted people but there is a lot of freedom in not having secrets.

2. Discovering pathways. I have realized that I don't connect with God like others do. Some people really connect with God during worship, or the "singing" part of a worship celebration. Not me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the singing part of church (most of the time) I sing the words as worship but I really don't connect with God on a deep level by singing. What I have discovered, for me, is that I connect with God more with my intellect so reading a good book or hearing a good sermon does a lot for my relationship. I also found I connect best with God during quite times of mediation or simply reading the Scriptures. I live wide awake knowing how I connect with God and not feeling guilty about the ways I don't connect.

3. Finding my thing. Finding things that bring me joy, things that I am passionate about, things I simply love doing. I love to travel and discover new places. Just this week my family and I drove around our community "discovering" new place. I felt wide awake in doing that.

May we all strive to live wide awake and not sleepwalk though this short life we have been give as a gift

The Future

2010-05-14T13:25:00.001-07:00

"We must remind ourselves yet once more that all Christian language about the future is a set of signposts pointing into a mist". - NT Wright "Surprised by Hope" pg 132

an inspiration

2010-05-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Mike Yaconelli is one of my favorite authors and speakers. He is the founder of Youth Specialties a company that resources youth workers. He wrote 2 of my favorite books: Dangerous Wonder and Messy Spirituality. He was tragically killed in a car accident a few years ago. I love this tribute video to him because of the passion that he oozes

Journaling

2010-04-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

I like to journal from time to time. Writing my thoughts not only allows me to catalog my thoughts and my journey with God but also to vent frustration and document exciting things happening in my life. I used to use a paper journal but since my handwriting is so bad I would go back to read and could not read everything I wrote. I tried using word but word was not created to organize my entries like I wanted. I discovered macjournal. This is by far the best software based system I could find (for mac users). I can organize and catalog my thoughts, insert pictures and audio and keep more than one journal. You can try it for free and is only $39.99 to buy. Most of the paper journals I would use cost about that much, so it pays for itself pretty quick. If you are into journaling this is a great tool.

Weekend Recap @ Northbrook

2010-04-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend at Northbrook.. We continued our message series "Creed". This weeks theme was "the church". 2 points to remember. Christ's church has a 2 fold function. 1. To be the expression of God to the world and 2. To be the community of faith. Some cool things that happened this weekend:

1. 13 Children were dedicated to Christ
2. 18 people were baptized
3. Weekend attendance of 1,673 (Our highest this year on a non-holiday)

Great things are happening at Northbrook, I am privileged to serve such a great congregation

Tools for leaders

2010-04-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Every once and a while I come across some leadership tools that I think are worth talking about. They are particularly great in my context as a church leader but the are universal in nature. The first tool is a DVD called "systems" by Andy Stanley, you can check it out here. The second is a creativity and productivity tool called curio . This is a great tool for project management, mind maps interactive to do lists and a bunch of other cool features. Both are worth your time and money.

Easter Recap at Northbrook

2010-04-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend at Northbrook Church!. Lives were transformed as people acknowledged need for God. A special thanks to all that made this weekend happen. We had just under 2,000 people attend one of our 4 weekend celebrations. I really enjoyed speaking on "Doors", this message was an adaptation of one done at Willow Creek, was a powerful reminder of our need for what scripture calls resurrection power (Ephesians 1:18-20). If you visited Northbrook for the first time this weekend we would love to invite you back again this weekend. If you brought someone with you on Easter I hope you will invite them back this next weekend.

Creed

2010-03-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

I began a new series at Northbrook called "Creed". The series focuses on the Apostles Creed. The Apostles Creed contains all that we need to unite us as followers of Christ. We spend so much time focusing on what divides us. Doctrine and convictions are essential to our faith but, often divide. When I refer to doctrine I mean those denominational formulations of faith determined in the vortex of study (see the article truth 101 by David Argue). By personal convictions I mean those personal interpretations of right living. The Creed unites us. The others tend to divide. My personal goal for this message series is to memorize the Apostles Creed. Lets bring life back to a very old document that has the potential to radically change us.

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:

Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried

The third day he rose again from the dead

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:

I believe in the Holy Ghost:

I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints:

The forgiveness of sins:

The resurrection of the body:

And the life everlasting. Amen.

2010-02-27T14:17:00.001-08:00

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Plato

Lent?

2010-02-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

I am celebrating Lent this year. Of late, I have found a renewed fascination with the historical church calender. Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. According to the Christian Calendar that marks the beginning of lent. The Christian calendar is more typically observed in mainline liturgical churches or in high church traditions. I wonder if those of us in evangelical churches have missed out on amazing spiritual experiences because we have thrown out the baby, the bathwater and the tub.

I grew up Roman Catholic. When I left RC church I left behind all things liturgical. That may have been OK for a season, but I am new intersection in life one which challenges me to focus. The historic Christian calendar helps me focus on the story of God. As I have studied the Christian calender it has helped me develop sacred rhythms.

The author bobby gross writes in his book Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God, “The power that overshadowed Mary and raised Jesus form the dead also guarantees the final redemption of all things. That same power is at work in us now (eph. 1:15-23) Living the Christian year opens us further to this power as week by week, year after year we rehearse the eternal story”

Glen Packiam writes in his BLOG "But I'm beginning to wonder if every church-- even the ones that claim to order their year by the Spirit's leading-- has a calendar, an annual rhythm of sorts. In most of the non-denominational churches I've been in, there is the Small Group Kickoff in the Fall, a Festival for children involving candy and costumes that mysteriously lands on October 31st each year, there is a Christmas Pageant of sorts in early Winter, a Call to Prayer at the dawn of a new year, an Easter Outreach in the Spring, and then camps, conferences, and missions trips in the Summer. And it repeats in more or less the same manner each year. We have a Modern Church Calendar.

None of that is inherently problematic. Except when I began to compare it to the Historic Church Calendar. I realized that the Modern Church Calendar centers on what we are doing and invites God in while the Historic Church Calendar centers on what Christ has done and invites us to participate in His life, suffering, death, resurrection, and commission. One is about my activity, the other is about Christ's; one is about the busyness of my pre-determined rhythms, the other is about interrupting my rhythms to bring my life into the cadence of Christ and His work.

Lent is the 40 days before Easter. It was originaly a preparation for baptism, a time for new Christians to prepare for their new identity in Christ. For those that were baptized it was a time for self-examination and continue to be a time of renewal, sacrifice and renewal. It was (and still is) a time of fasting and prayer. As a kid I hated lent because we had to give up something and could not eat meant on Friday, so it meant pizza with no pepperoni on it for 6 weeks. It is still a time of sacrifice, but it can be lifeless sacrifice. I have chosen to make lent a life giving experience for me. I have chosen to sacrifice something in order to become a better follower of Christ. This year I am giving up some sleep for lent. I have chosen to wake up 1 1/2 hours earlier than normal (so that means 5 am) in order to spend that time with God. Simple yet life changing. I invite you on the ride.

Church

2010-02-13T05:22:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of tired of hearing people rant about how they are turned off or sick of the "institutional church" (I guess this is a rant of my own). Honestly, we are all a bunch of humans trying to figure this thing out. Besides, disorganized church is not much better.

The Coffin of Preferences

2010-02-01T13:47:00.001-08:00

We all have preferences. I prefer my coffee with cream, not sugar. That's ok, its my way, not the only way. Preferences in church settings can reek havoc on a healthy community of faith. Having preferences religiously speaking is ok, as long as we don't make a dogma out of them. Churches are in chaos over music...traditional, contemporary, blended, rock. We get in mad dog fights over what is appropriate dress, suit and tie, jeans an tee shirt, something in between. Liturgical? Seeker? Emergent? Purpose Driven? Let me be frank, does Jesus really care? Does Jesus care if we sing a hymn or a contemporary song as long as we worship him. Does it matter if we have intelligent lights or candles? Does our wardrobe really bother Jesus that much (The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 6:7). I know...some say it is a respect issue but who are we respecting? Yes their is the case for modesty but beyond that why does the conversation get so heated? I live my preferences but do not argue them or force them on anyone else. Preferences can be like a coffin, a representation of death. The more we fight over them instead of realizing that we are all created little different we put one more nail in the coffin.

God and Haiti

2010-01-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

This week an article was published in Newsweek titled "Why God Hates Haiti"? The piece was more of a discourse on the subject of "why does God allow suffering". The article quotes Pat Robertson's notorious comment that Haiti brought this on themselves becasue of the practice of voodoo. Why does God allow suffering? I don't know. To quote the article "Over the next weeks, sensible clerics will struggle with what to say. The really smart ones will say God is mysterious and we can't explain everything". As followers of Christ, lets wrestle with this..."Is the cross enough"? Sure, we need God in our everyday life, but does my faith allow God to be mysterious and at times unexplainable? I hope so. Some times God answers the why to my own suffering and sometimes remains strangely silent. What I cling to is the hope promised by Christs death on the cross, his resurrection and belief that he sees the bigger picture of eternity.

One more thing off the checklist

2010-01-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well...we finally bought a house. After looking at about 200 on the internet and 25 showings we finally have a place for the Bellanti family to rest their head. We did not plan on buying a brand new home, but once again that is what we did. We purchased a brand new home cheaper than the established homes we looked at. We will be living in the metropolis of Slinger, WI, population 4,900. It is actually a great place. 10 minutes from the church I serve, 30min from downtown Milwaukee and just over two hours from Chicago. I get to retreat to a small town yet am only minutes from everything.

Why I am a mac...reason 1,000,001

2009-12-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

My daughter got some stuff for Christmas that was PC based, a doll and some games. I am pretty easy going and can usually figure out "computer stuff". We have one PC in the house and 2 macs. First the PC would not run the software for the doll, then the game took like 3 days to load. I have never experienced ANY of these problems on my mac EVER. It has never crashed and has never made me want to throw it out the window. Ok...that is my rant for the day. Merry Christmas

Sweet Spot

2009-12-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a sweet spot. Everyone was created to do something. In an interview with churchbusiness.com Max Lucado states:

CB:

Of the people who are working in their sweet spots, what do they all have in common?

Lucado:

Thats another great question. Well, thereâ€™s an enthusiasm about their work â€” theyâ€™re less concerned about the hours they work than the jobs they do. They take great pride in their work.
In the book, and from my own perspective, the sweet spot isnâ€™t just about identifying the what, but understanding the why. Adolf Hitler knew what he could do, but why God gave him that ability, he never discovered.

For a person to really live in their sweet spot, theyâ€™ve got to discover the joy of pleasing and honoring God. Itâ€™s less about themselves and more about honoring Him.

Sweets spots can change. For a time my sweet spot was in a small inner city church in Los Angles, CA. After that, through some unusual circumstances we moved to Colorado Springs to become youth pastors. The youth group grew tremendously, lives were being touched and leaders were being developed. My sweet spot changed. 5 or so years latter my sweet spot changed again. The Sr. Pastor of my church resigned and I was asked to step in I was in my sweet spot again. 2 years ago I started feeling like God was up to something in my life (again). We had just completed a brand new building the church in Colorado was growing and life was good. Except for one thing, I felt it was time for something new. Through some more unusual circumstances I received phone call and eventually the invitation to become the Sr. Pastor of a church in Milwaukee WI. Milwaukee! It was never on my "radar". But...I am in my sweet spot. I am pretty convinced all my ministry experience thus far has led me to this moment. Sure, things can be challengeing. Sometimes I get frustrated. I know I am in my sweet spot and I love it. My hope is that I can help others to find their sweet spot in life...God created us to live there.

Patience

2009-12-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Jack London, in his book The Call of the Wild wrote "There is a patience of the wild - dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself". Patience is hard. I have lots of ideas, aspirations, hopes and dreams that live in my mind. Many of them must go through a process in order to reach a place of reality. I don't always like the process...I just want it to happen. I have found that is just not how God works. Lots of growth happens in the process. Relationships are formed in the process. We grow spiritually in "the process". My prayer is that I will be yielded to the process God has for me.

Why the Apostles Creed is important (PART 2)

2009-11-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

I was flipping through a pamphlet entitled "Creeds and Heresies: Then and Now. In this pamphlet a section was entitled "Why do the Creeds Matter". I offer this for your digestion...

1. Creeds help Christians to distinguish between essential and nonessential beliefs.

2. Creeds help Christians to focus their faith hand worship on the issues that matter most.

3. Creeds help Christians to articulate clearly how their beliefs differ from other teachings.

more to come...

Why the Apostles Creed is important

2009-11-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic (universal church, not referring to Roman Catholic) church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

I am fascinated with the Apostles Creed. Growing up Roman Catholic we recited it every weekend. The Apostles creed is not distinct to the Roman Catholic church, but a universal Christian Creed. A deep set of theological truth that has been passed down through the centuries. I find an renewed interest in this creed and am dedicating some time to the study of it for several reasons but I will site the most important in this posting. The Apostles Creed is unifying in nature. With the birth of denominations we have separated ourselves from each other through the means of "distinct doctrine". I have no problem with Christian faith traditions holding to sacred doctrine but we have used them to isolate and as ammunition in pointless battles. The Apostles creed is a banner we can unite under in Christian live. The scriptures tell us "they will know that we a Christians by our love for one another", not our love for our pet doctrine

Life in Wisconsin

2009-10-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

We have been in Wisconsin a little over a month. Lots of people have said to me "why would you move from Colorado to Wisconsin". Let me answer that question. First we believe that without a shadow of a doubt that God wanted us here. I know it sounds super spiritual but that's how we feel. Secondly we really like the mid-west. The trees, the colors, the lakes the lush forest. Colorado was great, the beautiful mountains, the aspens changing. The one thing that I don't miss is how brown it gets there and, frankly, we just wanted something different and a change of scenery. The people here have been overwhelmingly kind to us, we really love our new church! So there is the answer.

Communion

2009-09-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend is our celebration of the Lords supper at Northbrook Church. As I have been reflecting on Communion I came across a reading by Dom Gregory Dix in his work on liturgy and worship published in 1945. In the Evangelical/Protestant tradition we focus on "remembering" while more liturgical traditions focus on a repetition of the Calvary event. Their has been a debate over the proper responce to the communion. Though I am in the "remembering camp" as Jesus said do this in "rememberance" of me, Dom Gregory Dix has some insightfull words. He writes "there is a logical and inevitable development from a protestant bias, namely that the Eucharist is entered into in a solely mental manner, wherein we are reminded of something that is no longer present. Thus the real Eucharist action takes place mentally, in the isolated secrecy of the individuals mind...and it goes on separately, even if simultaneously within each man's mind...further this means that the external right is no longer a corporate rite integral to the performance of the Eucharist action, but a common preparation for it, designed only to prepare each communicant subjectively to perform it for himself. Therefore there is no way of entering into Christs action...but a mere mental remembering of it"

As we remember Christs death may we participate actively in the freedom and forgiveness that his sacrifice brings.

Today

2009-08-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today I attended New Life Church in Colorado Springs. It was refreshing just to sit and worship. New Life is a great church led by Brady Boyd. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with Brady and he is the real deal. He leads with integrity and honesty and is very vulnerable.

Tomorrow we begin our journey to Wisconsin. It was very hard saying good by to all our friends here in Colorado but we are excited about meeting new friends. Most important I feel that God is writing the next chapter in our story. My desire is to be in the center of His will. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and said to myself..."Am I really moving to Wisconsin"? Reality has set in for me, leaving is hard but I think staying would be even harder. I am really ready to get started on this new adventure

My dream job

2009-08-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today was a lazy day after church. I sat around and watched a marathon of Man V. Food. Now that guy has a job. If you have never seen the show, this guy travels the U.S eating at the best local eatery's and taking on enormous food challenges (Check it out here). I love what I do but I would not mind giving what he does a shot.

Leadership thought

2009-07-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have been home for about 3 days from vacation. Rebecca and I took 2 days and went to Chicago (my favorite city). I was reflecting on the past and the present when I remembered something that I read in a book. The author said something like this "Good leaders know when it is time to go". That has been very helpful in light of my current situation. I guess if we put that into "Christianeze" one could say good leaders understand Gods times and seasons. The writer of Ecclesasties says their is a time and a season for everything under the sun. I am really excited about this season I am entering into. I can see Gods fingerprints all over it. My deepist desire is to live my life in a way that honors God. I really want to be a tool he can use for His purpose.

2009-07-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

I went for a 3 mile run this morning. Running really clears my mind and puts things into perspective for me. I have been thinking about the responses I have received since announcement my departure from Restoration Church. 90% of peoples reaction have been very supportive and for that I will be forever grateful. I have given 10 1/2 years of my heart and soul to the church and I have no regrets. The other 10% well...I expected there to be some anger and hurt, but really I need to put things in perspective. Lots of people have moved on to different things in life. Our church which is located in a military community sees people coming and going all the time. So, if you are having negative feelings about change consider the following:

1. I have served Restoration well
2. My life needs to be about Gods call and leading, not nessisarily what others want
3. Sometimes we all need a change to stay sharp.
4. That time has come for me, time for a new challenge, a new adventure. change of scenery and a new"mission".
5. At some point we all need change and that need for change may disapoint someone

Moving Forward

2009-07-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

As I promised to so many I am blogging my transition from Colorado to Wisconsin. My goal is to be as transparent as possible. Last week the family and I were in Michigan for vacation. This weekend I spoke at our new church (Northbrook). The weekend went really well. When we first arrived in Wisconsin on Friday my emotions were really messing with me. It finally hit me that this is really happening. I grieved for the church family I was leaving in Colorado, yet I was excited about the new adventure that we are embarking on and about all the great new people we are meeting. Saturday and Sunday we great. I finnally got to meet alot of the people that call Northbrook home. We were welcomed very warmly. I spoke out of Ephesians 4. The topic was unity, which turned out to be a very timley message for all of us. Monday Rebecca and I headed to Chicago for 2 days of Pizza (Ginos East) and Chicago dogs (with everything of course). Today I am back in Michigan for 5 days of NOTHING. Monday we head back to Colorado and the fun begins. I plan on being back in Wisconsin by the end of August.

Embracing the Day

2009-07-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

For the next few weeks I am going to be blogging about my transition from Colorado to Wisconsin. I will be moving in about a month. It has been a crazy ride and a little bit of an emotional one. In the midst of this I read and article in the Detroit Free Press by Kristen Jordan Shamus. The artical was entitled "Sometimes, the smallest joys can offer the most solace when life seems bleak". My life is not "bleak" right now, actually it is great and filled with excitement, but the content of the article is what captured my attention. Shamas writes about her dentist who has cancer. She references her doctors blog in the article in which he writes "Whether faced with cancer or not, our days on this earth are numbered. In the face of cancer it may seem that the number is smaller than it should be, but we still have no way of knowing how many days are left in our lives. Why not spend theme giggling at the wind in our hair, instead of pulling it our worrying about the future." Lets take a moment and feel the wind in our hair.

Hard Day....but excited about the future

2009-07-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a really hard day. I announced this morning my resignation as Pastor of Restoration Church. I have served this church for 10 1/2 years and I LOVE the people at Restoration. Today was probably the second hardest thing I have ever had to do. Restoration Church is healthy, growing and alive. I will miss everyone there very much.

But...I am also excited about the new opprotunity that God has given our family. We will be moving to Milwaukee Wisconsin to become the Lead Pastors of another great church. It is a big move for us be we really love the area. Many people have told me that it is really cold there, but, need I remind them I spent 18 long winters in Buffalo, NY so I think I will survive. The people I have met in Wisconsin are great and it will be a pleasure to serve there. Rebecca and I have complete peace...but we do have ALOT to do.

Love reading?

2009-07-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

I am an avid reader. Last weeks edition of Newsweek focused on books and reading. This issue also made a recommendation of the top 50 books to read now. If you love reading as much as me check it out. http://www.newsweek.com/id/204220

Simple Things

2009-07-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of the evening with my kids today. Hannah and Ryan were in the small blow up pool we have for them. Ryan got out of the pool and Hannah splashed him. He then ran away laughing and came back for more. Hannah splashed him, Ryan laughed, ran away and came back for more. This happened over and over. I never want to miss out on the simple pleasures in life (like watching my kids play together). So far, I have no regrets.

Justice, Mercy and Humbleness

2009-07-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I read a passage from Micah. "He he has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God". So I have had to examine my own soul. Do I act justly? Do I love mercy and act merciful in all my dealings? Do I walk humbly with my God?

Hope

2009-06-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ok...I had to do this. I found this site called "Obama Me". Remember all those Obama posters during the election? You can upload a photo and make your own "Obama style" poster. Reguardless of your political stance it is kind of fun.

2009-06-22T19:40:00.001-07:00

“Fall seven times; stand up eight.” – Japanese proverb

Burnout in Ministry

2009-06-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

For those of us in full time ministry here are some startling statistics provided by The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc.

90% of the pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week.
80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor's children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
33% state that being in the ministry is an outright hazard to their family.
75% report significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.
50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.
70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.
70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.
33% confess having involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church .
50% have considered leaving the ministry in the last months.
50% of the ministers starting out will not last 5 years.
1 out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister in some form.
94% of clergy families feel the pressures of the pastor's ministry.
66% of church members expect a minister and family to live at a higher moral standard than themselves.
Moral values of a Christian is no different than those who consider themselves as non-Christians.
The average American will tell 23 lies a day.
The profession of “Pastor” is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above “car salesman”.
Over 4,000 churches closed in America last year.
Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.
Over 1,300 pastors were terminated by the local church each month , many without cause.
Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year.
Many denominations report an “empty pulpit crisis”. They cannot find ministers willing to fill positions.

#1 reason pastors leave the ministry — Church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastor's believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.

-SOURCE: The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc.

Obviously this is a problem. So if you are a pastor or in some form of ministry I would like to engage in a discussion. (If you are reading this in facebook land check out mikebellanti.blogspot.com to share your thoughts). Lets be honest, the ministry does weird things to Pastors. Is it because we do not create healthy boundaries? We get sucked into the success vacuum? To much work, not enough help. I would love to hear your thoughts and what you do to stay healthy in ministry

2009-06-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake
-Henry David Thoreau

Fireproof your Marriage

2009-06-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend our church hosted a "fireproof your marriage" seminar, based on the movie "Fireproof". First, let me be honest. Most of the Christian films I have seen have been...well...lame. Though some of the acting in Fireproof is cheesy the message of the movie was incredible. The seminar that we hosted has gone really well, actually it has gone amazing. Thanks to Pastor Dave and Chris Johnston and Jim and Nikki Kumfer and all the table leaders that gave from their heart. 21 couples walked this journey this weekend and I think it is just the beginning of something great at Restoration Church. We have plans for a second seminar in the near future. If you were not able to attend this one I highly recommend attending our second.

Examen

2009-05-26T07:09:00.001-07:00

I found this great online tool that leads one through "prayers of examen". This is a great place to reflect and connect with God...and it is free. Check it out: examen.me

My Prayer

2009-05-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

"Spirit of the Living God, be the gardener of my soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still-experiencing a winter of the soul. But now in the strong name of Jesus I ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge
Bury deep in my soul the implanted word
Cultivate, water and tend my heart
Until new life buds and opens and flowers"
Amen

(from "Prayers from the Heart" by Richard Foster)

2009-05-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

“The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works."

-Augustine

Discover

2009-05-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

I am going through a new faze of growth and discovery right now, God is doing some great things in my life. I have been reflecting on some passages of scripture that have proved to be very enlightening during this stage of my life:

Colossians 1:17,18 "and He is before all things and in Him all things hold together"
Colossians 3:15 "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..."
Nehemiah 8:10 "For the Joy of the Lord is your strength"

Full of wonder

2009-05-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

I have really needed God to speak into my life the last couple of months. Some practices have emerged that have never been before. I have been spending time with God 2 times a day...a record for me. I get up in the morning and simply sit in his presence. When I get home from work, I take my son for a walk becasue that is the only thing that gets him to calm down, so I thought "I have all this time pushing him in the stroller, I might as well pray"...what a huge difference it has made. I am not trying to sound arrogant, this has become a practice that has transformed my life. I have regained the "wounder of God" in my life. These times take me way beyond the institutional God we have created and into the presence of a mysterious, powerful God, one that is full of wonder.

Mystery and Awe

2009-04-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have been conversing with some folks lately about theology. Each of these people have different theological viewpoints than my own. I love to converse with thinkers...arguers not so much...but thinkers that are willing to hash out their views with me while respecting my own are people I love to be with. What I have learned is that though we should be students of the bible there is a lot of awe and mystery about God. The moment we think we have figured it out is the moment we stop learning, arrogance sets in and we clog our portals in though which God can speak to us. I will be a student of Gods word for the rest of my life. I have learned a lot and have figured some things out but I never want to lose the awe, wonder and mystery of who God is.

I will get back to you...

2009-04-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

Something I find very annoying is when I try to contact someone either by phone or email and they don't get back to me for...like...a week, if at all. I know, we are all busy, but come on. I typically try to get back to someone in 24 hours. I have exceptions to the rule. Sometimes I need to think about my response for a while and I do on occasion fail, but not often. I used to believe that people must just be really busy, then one day that all changed. I emailed the General Superintended of the Assemblies of God, George Wood. I had some questions and, I wanted to see if he would respond at all. To my surprise, not only did he personally email me back with a lengthy response to my questions, he get back to me within 2 hours AND he was out of the country. Now this is a guy who is busy, yet he took the time to get back to me, someone he does not even know. We are all busy, but if you are not going to get back to peoples emails then just close your account an throw away your phone.

Presence

2009-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

I was reflecting on the Christian life this week. As a pastor I have struggled with priorities. In other words what should be my priority as a Pastor and as Christian. I read about and hear about churches doing all these "big" things, so I ask myself, what is my "big thing". I don't really have one. My thing is "presence". Looking at the life of Jesus I realize he spent a lot of time hanging out with people. He was present in peoples lives. I do not want to be so caught up in the mechanics of Christianity that I forget about people. I do not want to be absent. I do not want people to have to wait 6 months before they can see me. I hope all of us that follow Christ can be very present in each others lives.

The Economy

2009-03-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

Everything we hear about the economy is bad. A Newsweek article entitled "Stop Saving Now!" encourages us to start spending and thus save America from its financial issues. I wounder though, at least for those of us that follow Christ, if we are taking the wrong perspective. Currently I am teaching through the Lords Prayer on Sunday Morning. Next weeek I will be examining the verse "give us today our daily bread". So if we really believe what Jesus say's, do we think he will give us what we need? Jesus did not instruct us to pray for all our desires to met or even our daily desires. He did instruct us to pray for what we need today. This portion of the prayer seems to echo the episode in the wilderness when God provides manna from heaven and the Israelites were to collect only what the need for the day. If they got greedy the food simply rotted. So far in my life God has taken care of me, and I am getting more of my daily bread than I need. As far as the recession is concerned, I have chosen not to participate. I am not naive about economics, I have just decided that instead of freaking out about my money I will be more generous than last year knowing my daily bread is accounted for.

Website

2009-03-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new website with faithhighway, it finally went live yesterday, check it out at restchurch.org

BIG

2009-03-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

I was talking a walk with my son this evening. In between praying and thinking I looked up into the sky and for some reason I realized how small I was. This world is such a huge place with billions of people. I often think I am really important to this world, but looking into the sky I realized that though I am important to some people most of the world will never know I exist, and when I depart most will never know nor care. This may sound dismal, but the thought was actually very freeing, knowing that the world I live in is so much bigger than me, my way of thinking and that only God can be responsible for something of this magnitude. So I am grateful for the nigh sky and stars, it puts things into perspective.

Shipwreck

2009-02-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am reading this really great book called "The Tangible Kingdom". A paragraph in the introduction really got my attention. On page xviii the author states "If your like the authors of this book, you've gone down with a ship or two trying to make the Kingdom story tangible. You may have tried a few different churches, methods, programs leaders, teachers, styles and sizes only to rind yourself stuck on a ship that seems to be attracting no and and can barely hold your interest. Maybe your abandoned the boat and are treading water, hoping a rescue vessel will appear. Perhaps you abandoned the vessel and are swimming for your life, trying to get away from the shipwreck of bad (or less than fulfilling) church experiences. Even if another boat appeared, you wouldn't trust it to take you into the harbor-you wrecked to many times. Or, your already sitting up on the rocks, sopping wet, staring off into theological oblivion, wondering how much of the ancient story can really be true for today. Maybe you've captained one of these ships and without knowing it, found yourself sailing towards irrelevance. You have people on board, but they seem to have lost their heart. You would love to change the course. You would be happy to sail toward something new even if uncharted but you wounder if you would be sailing alone . Quite possibly you've lost your energy, and even if the wind of a new program came up, you,d be too tired to open the mail sail again. Maybe it's just better to drop anchor and wait until the storm blows over? (From The Tangible Kingdom, Halter and Smay pg. xviii).
This leaped off the page at me. I relate to what the author says...ALOT. Now do not get me wrong, I love the church, well...I love my church and the people in it. The people at Restoration Church are great. I went through some hard times five years ago when I took over. The church was declining when I took it, we went through some major leadership challenges and changes, built a building and frankly all of it almost made me lose my mind. HOWEVER, now our church is GROWING and is healthy (for the most part). With that said I carry some "churchy baggage". The first piece of luggage I carry is a handbag called "hurt and offence". Crazy thing, the only people that have every "hurt" me, stabbed me in the back or were just plain mean (I would use other words but I am a Christian) are folks who identify themselves as Christians. None of my "pagan" associates have ever done any of these things to me, kind of weird. The second piece of churchy baggage I carry is hard to describe. I will call it "frustration with the system'. Sometimes we like to do church and church type activities that really don't do anything but waste time and money. I would rather just be the church than do church. I get frustrated with the way we treat church. We are supposed to be a COMMUNITY OF FAITH or a family, but some folks switch churches more than they switch the trash bags in their house. I guess I can say this becasue I have been with my church for ten years. No it has not always been easy but families work things out and don't abandon each other when they get mad or some other family has a cool new program. It is a vicious soul killing cycle. Sure I understand, sometimes you need to change churches or God has a mission for you somewhere else, but not once a year or once a month. ANYWAY...I love the church. I am not bitter at God or anyone else for that matter. Actually I love God more now than I ever have before. I want to serve him well and focus my attention on leading our church in a direction that affects people in life giving ways for Gods kingdom. So for now I am trying to put my bags down and leave them somewhere and never pick them up again, but I am human so I am working on it, just like everyone else.

Evangemergent

2009-02-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of reading in church theory and philosophy, and trying to determine where I fit on the church spectrum. In my reading I came across an article in a magazine published by Fuller Seminary called "Theology News and Notes". I can't remember the title of the article but in it the author described himself as an "evangemergent", combining the words evangelical with emergent. This would probably describe me well. Some things attract me to the evangelical world and the so called "institutional church". In my readings their are those that have nothing good to say about the "institutional church". I happen to find myself in an institutional church and counter to the trends described, we are growing, we are reaching out in mission, feeding the poor and reaching the hurting all while staying true to scripture. I am also attracted to the "emergent church" because of the value it places on mission, relationship and ancient practice. The church I currently pastor, and love, is moving towards being and "evangemergent church". We have made some changes that don't always fit the tribe we belong to. Not only do we do the "institutional churchy" things like sing modern songs, and have a 30 min teaching, we also recite the creeds, do responsive readings and corporate prayer. I am also looking at ways of making the Lords Supper more central to who we are. I am in the middle of reading "The Forgotten Ways" but Alan Hirsch, which is a GREAT book, but really blasts the modle of church most of us are used to. Though their are things that attract me to the "missionoal, emergant church (words that are getting very overused) I also love the form of ministry I participate in. If the two could learn to get along then we would really have something unique.

My take on church

2009-02-14T18:08:00.001-08:00

We all have our view on what church should be like...right? The problem is we all think we are right. I have read "church theory" books ranging from "The Purpose Driven Church" by Rick Warren all the way to "The Forgotten Ways" by Allen Hirsh. Both have great things to say, and it would seem, both think their way is the way (I am assuming not stating as fact). We all have our flavor and our way of doing things. Their are lots of ways of expressing worship to God and all have value. Their are two churches in this city in which I really respect the way the do things and have high respect for the leadership. One of those churches has 10,000 members and meets in a mega aud. The second on has about 80 people and meets in houses. Two very different expressions, but both valid forms of "doing church". If I were looking for a new church their are some things I would look for and some things I would avoid. First I would avoid going to a church JUST because of the cool stuff they have. Now I am not against cool stuff. At our church we have spent a lot of money remaking our kids space into something really awesome and we are in the process of spending a bunch of money redoing our website. But those things are not who we are as a church. If you go to a church simply because of the cool stuff they have you will end up leaving that church for the next church that has something cool. Someone ALWAYS has something cooler (is cooler a word?). Second, I would avoid going to a new church just because I am mad a someone at my current church...WORK IT OUT...that's what family does. I would choose a church that values relationship. The thing I love about my church is that I feel a great connection with the people. My church is to big to know everyone intimately but I know a lot of people and have deep relationships there. I would also to go one the places lots of value on Gods word, and not just a cute sermon with some proof texting. I am all for creative teaching, but I am not for coming up with some idea that I think will draw a crowd and then throw up some bible text to make it Christian. Third I would choose a church that values participating in some sort of ministry. Their is value in getting involved in Gods work. Allen Hirsh in his book "The Forgotten Ways" talks a lot about Christians who are just spectators. I want to practice my faith, not just watch someone practice it for me. In our church we have been adding elements to engage people in their faith. We have communion every week, we read the creeds out loud, together, and we enven have responsive readings, all so we can practice faith, together. So there are some of my thoughts on church, I will have more later.

Meditate

2009-02-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

I have found a lot of power in meditating and memorizing short passages from the Bible. Lots of the people read the Bible but it does little in the way of transformation. The reason: we do not let it read us, many of us do not LET the transforming power of the scriptures reach our soul. I have been guilty. I have read the bible as a text and not Gods word to me. Much of that changed when I started meditating on the scriptures. For the last 3 months I have been meditating on Col. 3:15 "May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts". Guess what...the peace of Christ is ruling in my heart - it really does work.

Did God Show Up?

2009-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

When we go to church we want God to "show up". Is that right thinking? If you have ever asked that question you need to read glenn packiam's blog from new life church. The post is called "Practicing the Wrong Presence". You can read it HERE.

Some thoughts on this year

2009-01-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wrestling with theology

2009-01-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

Their is a lot of theology out there. Each denomination and, if we are honest, each individual Christian, Christ follower or whatever you call yourself has one. I am reading a book right now called "Liberal Theology, A Radical Vision by Peter Hodgson. I don't consider myself a liberal, I just like reading people who have different points of view than my own. In the introduction he makes a statement that really made me think. Hodgson Says:

There is something intrinsically radical about theology. After all, it purports to make assertions about God, about the ultimate meaning and purpose if things, and offers strong judgments about human behavior from a prophetic perspective. While drawing upon experience and history, its way of knowing and speaking brings into play revelation and intuition, story and poetry, philosophical speculation and religious faith. It engaged with the real but sees the mystery beneath the real. Karl Barth once remarked that "theology can not longer be based on anything but daring." Could it ever be based on anything but daring.?"
(from Liberal Theology, Preface pg ix)

Sick

2009-01-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

I am laying in bed sick. I got sick last Tuesday when I got back from Florida. I am not getting any better so today I am breaking down and going to the doctor. I have had a lot of time to think today laying here doing nothing. I am a little frustrated because I had to cancel a snowboard trip I had planned for Thursday, but I guess I will get a lot more done this week. I am right in the middle of some big projects at our church. We are completely redoing the church website, something that is long overdue. I contracted with a company and things are going well. We are also rethinking our vision as a church. I have been at Restoration Church 10 years as of January 15th. 5 of those years as the Lead guy. We have been through a lot in the last 5 years, some good, some not so good. It is now time to start reevaluating our uniqueness. We have a lot of things going for us. Our staff is GREAT. We have the right people in the right places. As a church we are growing, numerically, financially and spiritually. We just need to figure out who God has called us to be in all our uniqueness. We have great people that make up the Restoration Church community so I am excited for all that is in store for us. The theme we have chosen for 2009 is "The Power of Our Story". We all have a story, full of excitement and pain, success and failure, journey with God, spiritual victory and failures. We want to leverage our stories this year so we can truley participate in God Kingdom.

tension

2009-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

We had a great celebration on Sunday this week at Restoration church. I spoke from Acts 15 with the big idea that legalism can cripple at best and kill a church at worst. As a church, I want us to value the different expressions of worship and respect the backgrounds that we come from. Our church is made up of people from so many different expressions of Christianity and we want to value true, heart felt worship in all its forms. This year our goal is to ease any tension that may exist between people that worship God in different ways. I want those that come from more Charismatic/Pentecostal backgrounds to have the freedom to worship, but not look down on those that are more quiet in their worship and vise-versa. I am excited about what is happening at Restoration and look forward to what is ahead.

Goals

2009-01-09T18:03:00.001-08:00

I took this picture of a sunset in Estero, FL. It was much more brilliant live, but the colors were very rich. As a the sun sets on another year I am full of anticipation for 2009. I do not like to set new years resolutions, but I have 2 goals for 2009. They are both spiritual in nature. The first comes from Col. 3 in which the Apostle Paul writes "May the peace of Christ rule in your heart". The second comes from Nehemiah 8 "...may the joy of the Lord be your strength." My desire for this year is for Christ's peace to rule in my heart and for Gods joy to be my strength. These goals are a lot harder to measure than numerical goals or social goals are. However I have memorized these passages from the Bible and I constantly pray them and recite them out loud. I want them to become a part of me this year. I do not want my circumstances to dictate my peace and joy, I want God to do that job.

A Great Year

2008-12-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas...so Merry Christmas. As I reflect on the end of this year I have a lot to be thankful for. 2008 has been a huge year, full of things that were amazing and some things not so amazing. As I reflect on my family lots of milestones this year. First my marriage is probably the best it has ever been, so I am very grateful for that. My daughter started school this year and my son turned one. I developed some healthy patterns and boundaries this year and that has helped me to live life more fully. Ministry has been good this year. We finished the building expansion project and it came out GREAT. Attendance is up about 8-10% and financial giving has been way up. Our food pantry ministry has gone from serving 3 families 6 years ago, to last week when we served 240 families. Not only does the food pantry give food they pray with everyone, offer financial counsel and many other services. Way to go Gretchen Baker and team. Our church also birthed a new ministry called MOPs which replaces our Valley Moms group. MOPs grew from 5 moms last year to over 40 moms each week this year. Great job Lisa Marie and team. 2008 also brought us a new Pastor for our staff. Though I really liked our previous family, pastor Bob and Christina Moore are a better fit for our church, I love hanging around them, and they have been doing some really great things. Our kids ministry is exploding and the youth are also really starting to take off. Bob, Dawn and Jeremy are doing a great job with our youth and Children. There are so many other great things happening that I do not have time to get into it all here. I serve a great church with the best people on the planet and I love and appreciate everyone that calls Restoration Church home.

Christmas

2008-12-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

Obviously Christmas is about Christ, hence "Christmas". However Christmas has become amazing for us as our kids get older. We celebrated Christmas with our family here in Colorado on Friday because we will be spending some time in Florida. I had a great time just watching my kids open gifts and interact with each other. God has really blessed me and that makes Christmas all that much better.

Newsweek and Gay Marriage?

2008-12-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

A week ago the cover article of Newsweek was entitled "the religious case for gay marriage". You can read the article HERE. First let me say I love reading Newsweek, yes I know they have a liberal slant, but so what, their is some good journalism in it. Know this, I take a conservative position on gay marriage (meaning that I do not support it). However this article was very well written and should be viewed as another opportunity for Christians to take the study and application of scripture seriously. For one that does not understand sound biblical exegesis this article is very "swaying". The arguments that were made thought were not made from sound Biblical argument which is important because this article uses the Bible as its main supporting text.

The Christian Church also needs to learn how to respond in a Christ like manner, understanding the the Bible does not make room for or even allow hate and judgmentalism. Picketing, screaming bible verses and all the other things that we do does not promote the love of Christ. Also those that would call conservatives "bigots" are doing the same thing they are accusing of. The Christian responce should be love, understanding that all people are created in the image of God.

Christ Followers

2008-12-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

It has become trendy for church people to call themselves "Christ Followers" and not Christians because of all the supposed baggage that goes with the title "Christian". The problem is that when using the term Christ Follower or even Christian we are leaving out God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Is "Trinitarian" follower a better word? I know it does not really sound that great. Any thoughts?

Theology

2008-12-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

The word theology is simple enough - it means the study of God. If you want to study theology, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and overloaded since there is s0 much. You have Conservative Theology, Liberal Theology, Evangelical Theology, Liberation Theology, Charismatic Theology, Calvinistic Theology, Pentecostal Theology...you get the point. We have overly dissected and interpret the bible through some many lenses that we forget the very first instance in which New Testament theology was practiced. Jesus said to some fisherman "follow me" and they did...now that's good theology.

Treating people well

2008-11-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been pondering the verse in scripture "love your neighbor as yourself". As a Christian I really want to love people and treat them well...no matter what. In church we often have "assimilation programs" to connect people to the church but we forget that a one size fits all programatic mentality often makes Christians appear superficial. I stumbled across this book "The Starbucks Experience" and the following portion of the book gave me an "ah ha" moment.

While listening is critical to creating a connection, business success requires the discovery of each customers needs and individual situation. In a strange way, the customer relationship begins the same way a romantic relationship does - by seeking an understanding of another persons wants and desires. Sadly, many relationships (both customer and romantic) come to an end simply because one or both parities stop their process of discovery" - (pg 28).

I do not want to treat people like little projects, but like individual human beings created in Gods image. I want to listen to people, even if their thoughts opinions are different than mine. It is all about respect. Unfortunately in the name of "truth" and "telling it like it is" we isolate, marginalize individuals removing their value as people. I want to treat people like Jesus did...I have a long way to go but I am walking the path that gets me there.

Quiet

2008-11-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

I am looking to create more times of "quiet" in my life. With 2 small kids that is no easy task. However I am creating margins in my life to give my mind a break and to hear the voice of God. I am turning the radio off in the car, limiting the time the TV is on in my home and talking long walks with no ipod. I have reached a point that I have no other choice but to be utterly dependent on God. I am tired of people trying to manipulate me with their agenda. I am tired of people telling me what I am and what I am not. I am weary of trying to make everyone happy. I am not complaining, I am making a freeing and bold statement that I am living to please God. I will live my life with integrity and holiness. When I mess up I will confess and receive Gods forgiveness. I will admit my mistakes, celebrate my accomplishments and live with passion, receiving everyday as a gift.

One thing we should not have to do

2008-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

Their is one thing we should not have to do...bury our own children. Yesterday I performed a funeral for a baby that was born and lived one hour and then passed on. This was a very heart wrenching moment. As a parent that has lost 2 children (to miscarriage) losing a child at any point is hard, but holding your child and then having to bury them..I don't even want to imagine.